Let's try something new...review?

I had a realization today, you know what would be great for the blog? Reviews! You can't do reviews effectively on a twitterfeed, or on facebook. It seems there might still be some things for which blogger is the best medium. So I'm going to try this - do at least one review a week. Not because I think my opinion on things counts so much, but because it will bring me back here and who knows I might even end up doing other blogging again. 


Also, I've been toying with a New Year's resolution that goes something like this - "be more than your job". What if, when people asked you what you "did", you answered with more than just what you did at work all day? Because I don't know about you, but I think I'm more interesting than what I do at work, even though that can be interesting too. I think I'm just going to experiment a bit, start answering differently and work on having cool things to answer with. 


So, here we go, my first review of something that I enjoy when I'm not working: 


BBC's "Sherlock" (TV) 


I know your mind is probably immediately jumping to Robert Downey Jr pretending to be Sherlock Holmes, which we both know he isn't and that's a review for another day. But what I'm talking about here is the the brilliant series released last year by the BBC starring the incredibly talented Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman (soon to be Bilbo). 


Obviously it wasn't a very tough sell - being British Literature and all. But they've done something very interesting. They've set it in modern times - but maintained the spirit of the original. And somehow, it works exceedingly well. For example, Dr. Watson has just come back from fighting in Afghanistan in the original story, and same goes for the new modern tale. An old "timekeeper" is now a cell phone. The story is obviously so beloved by the creators, that they know how to make it work today without sacrificing the details. 


I guess good reviews should be balanced.One downside is that elements of Sherlock's brilliance can sometimes be missed because he speaks quickly. Sometimes its a bit hard to follow, but then I'm not as quick as I could be sometimes. There is also an interesting "BBC visual effect" that shows writing on the screen when the character's receive texts. I found it a little distracting at first, but now I'm into it. And maybe a little too much makeup? That's all I've got.


So if you like mystery stories, cleverness, and British things, this show is for you. Even if you only like two out of three, you'll still like it. And you're in luck. The first season has three 90 minute episodes and you can find it on Netflix. The second season just started, and I've got them if you want them.